Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

April 20, 2020

4/20/2020

HOLD THE BANNER HIGH

        These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.--Matthew 15:8

    I saw that at last the standard was lowered, and that the heathen were uniting with the Christians. Although these worshipers of idols professed to be converted, they brought their idolatry with them into the church, only changing the objects of their worship to images of saints, and even of Christ and of Mary His mother. As the followers of Christ gradually united with them, the Christian religion became corrupted and the church lost its purity and power. Some refused to unite with them; such preserved their purity and worshiped God alone. They would not bow down to an image of anything in the heavens above or in the earth beneath.

    Satan exulted over the fall of so many; and then he stirred up the fallen church to force those who would preserve the purity of their religion either to yield to their ceremonies and image worship or be put to death. The fires of persecution were again kindled against the true Church, and millions were slain without mercy.

    It was presented before me in the following manner: A large company of heathen idolaters bore a black banner, upon which were figures of the sun, moon, and stars. This company seemed to be very fierce and angry. I was then shown another company bearing a pure white banner, upon which was written, "Purity and holiness unto the Lord." Their countenances were marked with firmness and heavenly resignation. I saw the heathen idolaters approach them, and there was a great slaughter. The Christians melted away before them; and yet the Christian company pressed the more closely together, and held the banner more firmly. As many fell, others rallied around the banner and filled their places. (Early Writings, 211-212)

REFLECTION: I would rejoice with all my heart to see all who have been connected with the work, take their places to hold high the banner of Jesus, that when their work shall be done, they may say as did Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing." (The Review and Herald, July 26, 1892)

April 19, 2020

4/19/2020

MORE TO FEAR FROM WITHIN

        It will be when you say, "Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?" then you shall answer them, "Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours."--Jeremiah 5:19

    I was carried forward to the time when heathen idolaters cruelly persecuted and killed the Christians. Blood flowed in torrents. The noble, the learned, and the common people were alike slain without mercy. Wealthy families were reduced to poverty, because they would not yield their religion. Notwithstanding the persecution and sufferings which these Christians endured, they would not lower the standard. They kept their religion pure. I saw that Satan exulted and triumphed over their sufferings....

    Although Satan rejoiced because of the sufferings of the saints, yet he was not satisfied. He wanted control of the mind as well as the body. The sufferings that they endured only drove them closer to the Lord, leading them to love one another, and causing them to fear more than ever to offend Him. Satan wished to lead them to displease God; then they would lose their strength, fortitude, and firmness.

    Although thousands were slain, yet others were springing up to supply their places. Satan saw he was losing his subjects; for although they suffered persecution and death, yet they were secured to Jesus Christ, to be the subjects of His kingdom. Satan therefore laid his plans to fight more successfully against the government of God and overthrow the church. He led the heathen idolaters to embrace a part of the Christian faith....Some thought that if they should come down and unite with those idolaters who had embraced a portion of the Christian faith, it would be the means of their full conversion. Satan was seeking to corrupt the doctrines of the Bible. (Early Writings, 210-211)

REFLECTION: We have far more to fear from within than from without. The hindrances to strength and success are far greater from the church itself than from the world. Unbelievers have a right to expect that those who profess to be keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, will do more than any other class to promote and honor,...But how often have the professed advocates of the truth proved the greatest obstacle to its advancement! The unbelief indulged, the doubts expressed, the darkness cherished, encouraged the presence of evil angels, and open the way for the accomplishment of Satan's devices. (Selected Messages, Book 1, 122)

April 18, 2020

4/18/2020

REJOICE

        The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be reveled.--1 Peter 5:1

    It is entirely wrong to buy every errand that is done for the Lord. The treasury of the Lord has been drained by those who have been only an injury to the cause. If ministers give themselves wholly to the work of God, and devote all their energies to building up His cause, they will have no lack. As regards temporal things, they have a better portion than their Lord and better than His chosen disciples whom He sent forth to save perishing man.

    Our great Exemplar, who was in the brightness of His Father's glory, was despised and rejected of men. Reproach and falsehood followed Him. His chosen disciples were living examples of the life and spirit of their Master. They were honored with stripes and imprisonment; and it was finally their portion to seal their ministry with their blood.

    When ministers are so interested in the work that they love it as a part of their existence, then they can say: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

    As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, 345)

REFLECTION: It may seem difficult to rejoice in the Lord when in trouble, but we lose a great deal by giving way to a spirit of complaint. It is our privilege to have in our hearts, at all times, the peace of Christ. We should not allow ourselves to be easily disturbed. It is to test us that God brings us through trials and difficulties; and if we are patient and trustful under His proving, He will purify us from all dross and at last bring us forth with triumph and rejoicing. Great blessings are reserved for those who uncomplainingly submit to the yoke that God wishes them to bear. (Manuscript 8, October 24, 1885)

April 17, 2020

4/17/2020

NO NEUTRAL GROUND

        He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.--Matthew 12:30

    Many have tried neutrality in a crisis, but they failed in their purpose. No one can maintain a neutral ground. Those who endeavor to do this will fulfill Christ's words, "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Those who begin their Christian life by being half and half, whatever may be their intentions, will at last be found enlisted on the enemy's side.

    Double-minded men and women are Satan's best allies. Whatever favorable opinion they may have of themselves, they are dissemblers. All who are loyal to God and the truth must stand firmly for the right because it is right.

    To yoke up with those that are unconsecrated and yet be loyal to the truth, is simply an impossibility. We cannot unite with those who are serving themselves, who are working on worldly plans, and not lose our connection with the heavenly Counsellor. We may recover ourselves from the snare of the enemy, but we are bruised and wounded, and our experience is dwarfed....

    When a man loses the shield of a good conscience, he knows that he has lost the cooperation of heavenly angels. God is not working in him. Another spirit inspires him. And to be an apostate, a traitor to the cause of God, is much more serious than death, it means the loss of eternal life. (Manuscript 87, August 19, 1897)

REFLECTION: He who desires to know the truth must be willing to accept all that it reveals. He can make no compromise with error. To be wavering and halfhearted in allegiance to truth is to choose the darkness of error and satanic delusion....

Only those who live the life of Christ are His co-workers. If one sin is cherished in the soul, or one wrong practice retained in the life, the whole being is contaminated. The man becomes an instrument of unrighteousness. (The Desire of Ages, 312-313)

April 16, 2020

4/16/2020

THE BURDENED CONSCIENCE

        Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.--Matthew 3:10

    Many false Messiahs will appear, claiming to work miracles, and declaring that the time of the deliverance of the Jewish nation has come. These will mislead many....The same deceptions practiced prior to the destruction of Jerusalem will be practiced again. The same events that took place at the overthrow of Jerusalem will take place again....

    Authorities in the United States and in other countries will rise up in their pride and power, and make laws to restrict religious liberty....They will assume the right that is God's alone, and like Nebuchadnezzar, they will think they can force the conscience, which God only can control. Even now they are making a beginning which they will continue to carry forward till they reach a boundary over which they cannot step. God will interpose on behalf of His loyal, commandment-keeping people....

    On every occasion that persecution takes place, the witness make decisions, either for Christ or against Him. Those who show sympathy for the men wrongly condemned, who are not bitter against them, show their attachment for Christ. Many will be offended because the principles of truth cut directly across their practice....Many will stumble and fall, apostatizing from the faith they once advocated. Many who have professed to love the truth will then show that they had no vital union with the true vine. They will be cut away as branches that bear no fruit, and will be bound up with unbelievers, scoffers, and mockers. (Manuscript 78, July 28, 1897)

REFLECTION: God does not send messengers to flatter the sinner. He delivers no message of peace to lull the unsanctified into fatal security. He lays heavy burdens upon the conscience of the wrongdoer, and pierces the soul with arrows of conviction. The ministering angels present to him the fearful judgments of God to deepen the sense of need, and prompt the cry, "What must I do to be saved?" (The Desire of Ages, 104)

April 15, 2020

4/15/2020

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

        Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.--2 Peter 1:21

    [God's message was] not thus written out, when the pioneers in the faith shall die, there would be many new in the faith who would sometimes accept as messages of truth teachings that contain erroneous sentiments and dangerous fallacies. Sometimes that which men teach as "special light" is in reality specious error,...And errors of this sort will be entertained by some until the close of this earth's history....

    The seductive fallacies of Satan undermined confidence in the true pillars of the faith, which are grounded on Bible evidence.

    Truth is sustained by a plain "Thus saith the Lord." But there has been a weaving of error, and the use of scriptures out of their natural connection, in order to substantiate fallacies, which would deceive, if possible, the very elect....

    Throughout the world, satanic science will become stronger and more fully developed, from this time henceforth until Christ rises from His throne and puts on the garments of vengeance....

    If we accept not the truth in the love of it, we may be among the number who will see the miracles wrought by Satan in these last days and believe them. Many strange things will appear as wonderful miracles, which should be regarded as deceptions manufactured by the father of lies. (Letter 136, April 27, 1906)

REFLECTION: The Bible was designed to be a guide to all who wish to become acquainted with the will of their Maker. God gave to men the sure word of prophecy; angels and even Christ Himself came to make known to Daniel and John the things that must shortly come to pass. Those important matters that concern our salvation were not left involved in mystery. They were not revealed in such a way as to perplex and mislead the honest seeker after truth. (The Great Controversy, 521)

April 14, 2020

4/14/2020

PEACE THROUGH JESUS

        These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.--John 16:33

    Man's plans will be overthrown, and the Lord God of heaven will reveal His glory. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit will work out heaven's law. These three great Powers have pledged themselves to bring to naught the inventions of idolatrous minds. They have put the infinite treasures of heaven at the command of God's struggling people. As the wheel is turned by a divine hand, the philosophy of the wisest men who are working contrary to My purposes will become intricate and confused,....

    In the great closing work we shall meet with perplexities that we know not how to deal with, but let us not forget that the three great powers of heaven are working, that a divine hand is on the wheel, and that God will bring His purposes to pass. (Manuscript 118, October 6, 1902)

    After seducing Adam and Eve, Satan was sentenced to confinement to this globe. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This curse has reference chiefly to the originator of sin, the devil, and not to the serpent, the medium. Satan and his associates fell under the curse.

    Unless man is given the converting grace of heaven, he will have no disposition to oppose Satan's counsels and will become the enemy's willing dupe. It is God alone who puts enmity to sin in the human heart. The Lord gives man a new mind. He causes the conflict that will not submit to Satan's deceptive reasoning. It is God who makes a conflict where heretofore there has been unity of action. It is the Lord's purpose that depraved human nature should, through His divine power, be provided with a renovating energy. (Manuscript 5, January 20, 1904)

REFLECTION: By passing over the ground which man must travel, our Lord has prepared the way for us to overcome. It is not His will that we should be placed at a disadvantage in the conflict with Satan. He would not have us intimidated and discouraged by the assaults of the serpent. (The Desire of Ages, 122-123)

April 13, 2020

4/13/2020

AN ENEMY HAS DONE THIS

        He said to them, "An enemy has done this." The servants said to him, "Do you want us then to go and gather them up"--Matthew 13:28

    The church of Christ on earth will be imperfect, but God does not destroy his church because of its imperfection. There have been and will be those who are filled with zeal not according to knowledge, who would purify the special light as to how to deal with those who are erring, and with those who are unconverted in the church. There is to be no spasmodic, zealous, hasty action taken by church-members in cutting off those they may think defective in character.

    Tares will appear among the wheat; but it would do more harm to weed out the tares, unless in God's appointed way, than to leave them alone. While the Lord brings into the church those who are truly converted, Satan at the same time brings persons who are not converted into its fellowship. While Christ is sowing the good seed, Satan is sowing the tares. There are two opposing influences continually exerted on the members of the church. One influence is working for the purification of the church, and the other for the corrupting of the people of God....

    We are not to say what constitutes the wheat, and what the tares. The time of the harvest will fully determine the character of the two classes specified under the figure of the tares and the wheat. The work of separation is given to the angels of God, and not committed into the hands of any man.

    Although there are evils existing in the church, and will be until the end of the world, the church in these last days is to be the light of the world, that is polluted and demoralized by sin. The church, enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned, and counseled, is the only object upon earth upon which Christ bestows his supreme regard. (The Review and Herald, September 5, 1893)

REFLECTION:   "Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven in likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also."

"The field," Christ said, "is the world." But we must understand this as signifying the church of Christ in the world. The parable is a description of that which pertains to the kingdom of God, His work of salvation of men; and this work is accomplished through the church. (Christ Object Lessons, 70)

April 12, 2020

4/12/2020

GOD'S CHURCH

        While men slept, his enemies came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.--Matthew 13:25

    Has God no living church? He has a church, but it is the church militant, not the church triumphant. We are sorry that there are defective members, that there are tares amid the wheat. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way....So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in the field" from whence than hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." (The Review and Herald, August 29, 1893)

    In the parable of the wheat and the tares, we see the reason why the tares were not to be plucked up; it was lest the wheat be rooted up with the tares. Human opinion and judgment would make grave mistakes. But rather than have a mistake made, and one single blade of wheat rooted up, the Master says, "Let both grow together until the harvest;" then the angels will gather out the tares, which will be appointed to destruction.

    Although in our churches, that claim to believe advanced truth, there are those who are faulty and erring, as tares among the wheat, God is long-suffering and patient. He reproves and warns the erring, but he does not destroy those who are long in learning the lesson he would teach them; he does not uproot the tares from the wheat. Tares and wheat are to grow together till the harvest; when the wheat comes to its full growth and development, and because of its character when ripened, it will be fully distinguished from the tares. (The Review and Herald, September 5, 1893)

REFLECTION: The enemy has worked in the religious world to deceive men into the belief that the law of God can be set aside. He has had long years of experience in this work, for he began with our first parents, using his powers to cause them to distrust God. If he could interpose himself between their souls and God, he knew that he would succeed....The enemy knows that if the church can be controlled by political enactments, if she can be led to unite with the world, she virtually acknowledges him as her head. (The Signs of the Times, November 22, 1899)

April 11, 2020

4/11/2020

VICTORY AND TRIUMPH OVER SATAN

        Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil....above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.--Ephesians 6:11, 16

    I saw that God wanted His people to be separated from the world, for wicked persons were the lawful prey of the enemy and he would work through them in every way to perplex and destroy the saints, and if we were obliged to be in company with the wicked persons we must pray and watch every moment lest we should partake of their spirit, for they corrupted the atmosphere where they were and their very breath was darkness, and that the wicked would wax worse and worse, and we must cut loose from them and be free and free indeed, and God does not want His people to mingle with the wicked more than they are obliged to....

    Could our eyes be opened, we should see forms of wicked angels around us, trying to invent some new and effectual way to annoy and destroy us, and we should also see angels of God guarding us from their power, for I saw that God's watchful eye was over Israel and that He would protect and save them if they would put their trust in Him, and when the enemy should come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord would lift up a standard against him.

    I saw we must buckle on the whole armor and take the shield of faith and we should be enabled to stand and the fiery darts of the enemy could not move us, and should be mighty and terrible as an army with banners....

    We must work while the day lasts and when Satan comes up with his power to impress us, we must have faith in God and beat him back, and if we could not get the victory, we should fast and pray and we should surely get the victory and triumph over Satan. (Manuscript 7, August 24, 1850)

REFLECTION: We are engaged in an exalted, sacred work. Those who profess to be called to teach the truth to those who sit in darkness should not be bodies of unbelief and darkness themselves. They should live near to God, where they can be all light in the Lord. (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, 516)